Neighbor accused of killing newlywed nurse faces new charges

A neighbor accused of killing newlywed Oregon nurse Melissa Jubane appeared in court Tuesday for a second time and faces new charges in her death.

Bryce Schubert, 27, had first-degree kidnapping and second-degree abuse of a corpse added to his second-degree murder charge, KPTV-TV reported.

The 32-year-old Jubane had failed to show up for her morning shift last Wednesday at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center, where she was a cardiac nurse. Beaverton police conducted a welfare check and declared her missing. Jubane’s body was found Friday evening, police announced Saturday, and an investigation linked her disappearance to Schubert, though police did not detail why.

Schubert was arraigned Monday and appeared in court again Tuesday. His attorney tried to enter a not-guilty plea on his behalf but Washington County Circuit Judge Elizabeth Lemoine did not accept it. Court rules forbid felony pleas to be entered before a grand jury indictment is handed down, The Oregonian explained. He is due back in court for a preliminary hearing on Sept. 16, according to KATU-TV.

On Monday evening friends, family, co-workers and well-wishers gathered in a tribute to Jubane organized by the Oregon Nurses Association. They remembered a woman who was “always willing to help, to jump in headfirst, no matter what was going on,” as her friend and colleague Kathy Keane, president of the Oregon Nurses Association, told the Beaverton Valley Times.

Just two weeks earlier, Jubane had married her longtime partner, Bryan Llantero, in Hawaii, where they had first met.

“The grief we all feel is profound, and the weight of this moment is unbearable,” Jubane’s co-worker Kristin Holeso told the Beaverton Valley Times.

“She was the kind of nurse that you get to the unit to start your shift and you’d see she’s on the schedule, and you’d just exhale and be like, ‘We’re going to be okay,’ ” fellow nurse Olivia Fults told KATU. “She had a lot of life left to live.”

With News Wire Services